Malaria case management including diagnosis and treatment is an essential component of malaria control and elimination. Ousmane Badolo, Mathurin Dodo, and Bonkoungou Moumouni of Jhpiego working on the USAID Improving Malaria Care Project in Burkina Faso explained at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene how they worked to improve case management by Strengthening the capacity of health care providers. There findings follow:

Malaria kills mostly children under five and pregnant women in Burkina Faso, and is the leading reason for medical consultation and hospitalization. Improving case management is a real challenge in reducing morbidity and mortality. The goal of the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) was to reduce the morbidity by 75% by end of 2000 and malaria mortality to close to zero by the end of 2015.

The United States Agency for International Development-supported Improving Malaria Care (IMC) project aims to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality. This includes strengthening the capacity of health providers to deliver high quality management- diagnosis and treatment, of malaria cases.

Between 2014 and 2016 IMC and the NMCP revised malaria guidelines, oriented 163 national trainers, trained 1,819 providers at all levels and organized supportive supervision of these staff. As a result correct diagnostic testing of malaria cases increased from 62% to 82%.

The proportion of people with uncomplicated malaria who received artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) increased from 85% to 94%. Strengthening of the data management system facilitated this information to be collected.

Training these providers based on national guidelines and reinforcing their learning through supervision has enabled the NMCP to have a pool of health providers capable of treating the most vulnerable population and helping to reduce malaria mortality level in Burkina Faso.

This training is accompanied by the implementation of formative supervision. Continued supervision and quality data management positions the NMCP to reach and document its goals.

Funding for this effort was provided by the United States President’s Malaria Initiative. This poster was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the Improving Malaria Care Project and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

https://t.co/yKKsmAEpSv @MinSanteRDC #Ebola 23 May 2019: Since beginning of epidemic, cumulative number of cases is 1,888, of which 1,800 confirmed 88 are probable. In total, there were 1,254 deaths (1,166 confirmed and 88 probable) and 492 people cured. 11 new confirmed cases